On Friday, Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that a portion of 16th Street near the White House had been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza. That day a street sign bearing the new name was installed. “Black lives matter” was painted in huge yellow letters on the road surface on Friday as well.

“Let's meet this evening at the corner of Black Lives Matter Plaza and Flatten the Curve Avenue. If you reach No Justice No Peace Road, My Body My Choice Drive, Sensible Gun Control Boulevard, or Me Too Street, turn around, you missed the intersection.” That may be the kind of directions people will be providing in Washington, DC in the future if the city government keeps renaming roads after political slogans.]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/june/05/black-lives-matter-plaza-turning-a-political-slogan-into-a-street-name-in-washington-dc/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/june/05/black-lives-matter-plaza-turning-a-political-slogan-into-a-street-name-in-washington-dc/Fri, 05 Jun 2020 22:59:36 GMT The Absurdity of Enforcing Coronavirus Mandate Business Restrictions While Mass Protests, Rioting, and Looting AboundAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/june/05/the-absurdity-of-enforcing-coronavirus-mandate-business-restrictions-while-mass-protests-rioting-and-looting-abound/

Across America over the last week large groups of people have been protesting. Many people have also crowded together rioting and looting, often with no police taking any action to stop the out-in-the-open assaults and theft. Meanwhile, in many of the same cities and towns across America businesses remain totally shut down or are legally allowed to operate only under new restrictions that make profitable functioning difficult to impossible, all in the name of countering coronavirus.

That is not fair. That is not just.

Sure, people have a right to protest. But, people also have a right to engage in commerce.

People do not have a right to physically attack individuals who are not endangering people or property. And people do hot have a right to steal. Yet, in many places across America, cops are just letting such happen.

In contrast, people do have the right to strike a bargain for mutual benefit — exchange money for goods or services at a business, for example. Yet, they fear to do so because of government mandates prohibiting such actions.

Governments mandating, in the name of countering coronavirus, that businesses shut down or operate under new restrictions has been an aberration since it started in March. Now, there is the additional blight that owners of businesses are continuing to suffer under these draconian mandates while other activities such as protests, rioting, and looting that could spread the coronavirus under the logic of the mandates are flourishing. Of course, businesses have also suffered directly from the thefts and physical destruction.

Take New York City for example. While New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is condoning people engaging in mass protests in favor of certain causes with which he agrees and while the looting of businesses and destroying of property has occurred with little effective counter-action from city police, the coronavirus crackdown on businesses continues strong.

Karol Markowics addresses the problem well in her June 2 New York Post editorial “If protesters can march, why can’t businesses open?” Early on in her editorial, Markowics describes the painful situation many New York City businesses find themselves in under the continuing government-mandated restraints on their operation. She writes:

New York City is still a full five days away from entering Phase 1. This will open up only some industries, like construction and manufacturing and retail on a pickup basis only.

The protests have exposed the absurdity of the continued lockdowns. It’s either a public-health emergency and crowds must be stopped or it’s not. It cannot be both.

On Sunday, as protests continued in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, a video circulated online of a city sheriff just a few avenues away giving tickets to open stores on 13th Avenue in Brooklyn.

None of this makes any sense anymore. The jig is up, the lockdown is over, our elected officials just need to catch up.

Exactly. Governments across America should ditch the phased reopenings and the accompanying new regulations, including percentage occupancy caps and new surveillance programs called “contract tracing.” Instead, just let people buy and sell as they choose. End the mask mandates too, along with the group size limits, stay-at-home orders, and the rest of the kit and kaboodle of draconian restrictions placed on businesses and individuals in the name of countering coronavirus.

Politicians should leave their dystopian dreams of a “new normal” behind and immediately rescind the entire coronavirus crackdown so Americans can choose to return to their “old normal.” As Markowicz writes, “the jig is up.”]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/june/05/the-absurdity-of-enforcing-coronavirus-mandate-business-restrictions-while-mass-protests-rioting-and-looting-abound/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/june/05/the-absurdity-of-enforcing-coronavirus-mandate-business-restrictions-while-mass-protests-rioting-and-looting-abound/Fri, 05 Jun 2020 13:54:19 GMT Protesters, Rioters, Looters, and Revolutionaries, Be Aware There Are Government Agents Among YouAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/may/30/protesters-rioters-looters-and-revolutionaries-be-aware-there-are-government-agents-among-you/

With protests, riots, looting, and revolutionary acts rising over the last few days across the country, here is a bit of information for participants in these activities to keep in mind: There are likely government agents among you. These government agents are undercover and taking part in the activities with you. Their role may be to take down names and inform on activities; their role may to act as provocateurs, seeking to lead you and others to do or say particular things; their role may be to make arrests.

This fact of life in America came to mind when I looked at a Friday Twitter post by journalist Luke Rudkowski. Rudkowski’s tweet includes a video clip in which a uniformed cop is among a group of people, many of whom seem to not be too happy with the cop. The cop is doling out some physical abuse, particularly on an individual he is trying to restrain, and receiving some physical abuse as well from several people in the crowd. It appears that the cop may be on the verge of being overpowered and seriously hurt. Indeed, it looks like a situation where he may pull out a gun to protect himself.

In the latter part of the video, one more person rushes into the area of conflict and seems to engage in a scuffle with the cop, drawing the cop out of the area and even chasing the cop off. At least that is how it seemed the first time I watched the video.

Something seemed off about how the two men interacted in the latter part of the video, so I watched a few more times.

Watching the video over and over, it looks more and more like the man who had seemed to come in to scuffle with the cop is actually pulling the cop out of the fray as a friend or coworker may do, while maybe putting on some ruse of conflict to ensure the extraction works. Indeed, at the end of the video clip, after a few viewings, it sure looks like neither man is chasing after the other. Instead, once clear of the danger that had confronted the cop, both men appear to jog off together.

It seems impossible to be certain just from looking at the video clip, but what appears to be happening here is an undercover cop, posing as a member of the protest, riot, or whatever came in to save the uniformed cop’s bacon or to prevent a further escalation of the physical conflict.

Undercover government agents are out there, and they are not out there just to protect the uniformed police. They are also there for purposes including surveilling and foiling the protesters, rioters, looters, or revolutionaries, as well as both provoking people to commit crimes and making arrests.

Starting Friday, people ten years old and older who are indoors just about anywhere in Virginia other than in private homes will be required by a new executive order of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam to “cover their mouth and nose with a face covering, as described and recommended by” the United Sates government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Further, the mandate even requires wearing such a mask when outside at a long list of places “if a distance of six feet from every other person cannot be maintained.”

Oh brother. Indeed, oh Big Brother.

Like many other draconian mandates imposed by the Virginia governor and other politicians across America, the new mask mandate is purportedly purposed to counter coronavirus. That, of course, is a stretch given that there is no clear evidence masks protect people from coronavirus and that the mandate is being imposed when even the CDC is admitting the coronavirus threat is much, much less than many coronavirus crackdown proponents have been claiming over the last few months.

Northam lists in his executive order a few exceptions. For example, people can remove their masks while eating and drinking and while exercising.

People opposed to being required to wear a mask should take particular notice of this exception listed in the executive order:

Nothing in this Order shall require the use of a face covering by any person for whom doing so would be contrary to his or her health or safety because of a medical condition.

In regard to this exception, the executive order further states:

Any person who declines to wear a face covering because of a medical condition shall not be required to produce or carry medical documentation verifying the stated condition nor shall the person be required to identify the precise underlying medical condition.

I don’t know about you, but following draconian government mandates makes me sick.

Unfortunately, many businesses and their managers can be expected to enforce this new mandate vigorously, choosing to kick out people who refuse to wear a mask and even to disregard the executive order’s listed exceptions. Some of these businesses or their managers will do so because they fear government enforcement actions that may come if there are reports of unmasked individuals at the businesses. Others will enthusiastically join in a zealous effort, often also supported by a substantial number of their customers, to stomp out any departure from the new dress code of subservience.]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/may/27/virginia-s-statewide-mask-mandate/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/may/27/virginia-s-statewide-mask-mandate/Wed, 27 May 2020 23:29:59 GMT Gunshot Victims Count As Coronavirus Deaths in Washington StateRobert Wenzelhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/may/26/gunshot-victims-count-as-coronavirus-deaths-in-washington-state/

Here is more on the absurd and very curious order from the CDC to count any death of a COVID-19 infected person who has died as a "COVID-19 death."

Democrat Washington governor Jay Inslee, whose daughter-in-law works for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, oversees a state government that has now admitted to counting gunshot deaths as Coronavirus deaths in official numbers pertaining to the virus, which sparked a draconian lockdown in Inslee’s state, reports the National File.

Freedom Foundation reports: “Today, officials at the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that, as the Freedom Foundation reported on Monday, the state is counting in its COVID-19 death total the deaths of persons who tested positive for the virus but died from other causes. In remarks made during a telephonic press briefing, DOH officials even acknowledged knowingly including multiple deaths caused by gunshot wounds in the state’s COVID-19 fatality count.

Future of Freedom Foundation President Jacob Hornberger failed to win the Libertarian Party presidential nomination in Saturday evening online voting by party delegates. Hornberger, who has spoken at Ron Paul Institute (RPI) events and whose articles have been regularly posted at the RPI website, came in second place in the fourth and final ballot cast by delegates.

Jo Jorgensen won the nomination.

Delegates will vote online Sunday to select the party’s nominee for vice president.

Though you will not be seeing Hornberger on the campaign trail as a presidential candidate this summer and fall, you can continue to read his insightful articles concerning liberty, current events, and history at the RPI website.

“Once police stop you, a ticket is the least of your worries,” writes Jacob Sullum early on in his new Reason article “10 Ways a Roadside Police Stop Can Go Wrong.”

After starting off with a short examination of the discretion police have to pull over vehicles on the road for a plethora of reasons, Sullum addresses, in turn, ten of the ways beyond a ticket that a traffic stop can be harmful. He starts with number one, having one’s driver license taken away, and proceeds on to number ten, being killed.

Read Sullum’s very informative and disturbing article here to learn how much the deck is stacked against drivers and their passengers when their vehicles are stopped by cops on the road.

]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/may/22/danger-cops-are-on-the-road/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/may/22/danger-cops-are-on-the-road/Fri, 22 May 2020 14:25:32 GMT Test Positive for Coronavirus, End Up in a Police DatabaseAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/may/20/test-positive-for-coronavirus-end-up-in-a-police-database/

So you are curious whether you have coronavirus? You could take a coronavirus test to find out. Well, not really find out, since the test results are not reliable. Nonetheless, you can take a test to obtain at least a Magic 8 Ball level answer of if you are or are not infected with coronavirus.

Here is some information likely unknown to many people when they are tested: The names and addresses of people who test positive are often handed over to police departments that can input or tag those names and addresses in police databases.

Kimberlee Kruesi provides the details in a Tuesday Associated Press article. She starts off her article with the following revelation:

More than 11 million people have been tested in the U.S. for COVID-19, all with the assurance that their private medical information would remain protected and undisclosed.

Yet, public officials in at least two-thirds of states are sharing the addresses of people who tested positive with first responders — from police officers to firefighters to EMTs. An Associated Press review found that at least 10 of those states also share the patients’ names.

Kinda makes those coronavirus tests that many government officials and people in the media have been promoting seem less warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it?

Politicians across America who have been trampling on liberty via a multitude of mandates imposed in the name of countering coronavirus should beware. There may be a court of jurisdiction stomping out your tyrannical efforts soon.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court led the way to restoring respect for limits on government power on Wednesday when it voided much of Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’ restrictions on commerce, travel, and other exercises of liberty purportedly imposed to protect people’s health.

”The Wisconsin Supreme Court has struck down Gov. Tony Evers' order shutting down daily life to limit the spread of coronavirus — marking the first time a statewide order of its kind has been knocked down by a court of last resort,” begins a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article by Molly Beck and Patrick Marley regarding the court’s decision.

Let’s hope that across America judicial and legislative actions are taken to make it clear that governments — state, local, or national — cannot again use a “public health threat” or other “emergency” to impose draconian mandates.]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/may/14/wisconsin-supreme-court-to-the-rescue-justices-void-much-of-governor-s-coronavirus-crackdown/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2020/may/14/wisconsin-supreme-court-to-the-rescue-justices-void-much-of-governor-s-coronavirus-crackdown/Thu, 14 May 2020 20:46:33 GMT Black Lives Matter Plaza: Turning a Political Slogan into a Street Name in Washington, DCAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/june/05/black-lives-matter-plaza-turning-a-political-slogan-into-a-street-name-in-washington-dc/

On Friday, Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that a portion of 16th Street near the White House had been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza. That day a street sign bearing the new name was installed. “Black lives matter” was painted in huge yellow letters on the road surface on Friday as well.

“Let's meet this evening at the corner of Black Lives Matter Plaza and Flatten the Curve Avenue. If you reach No Justice No Peace Road, My Body My Choice Drive, Sensible Gun Control Boulevard, or Me Too Street, turn around, you missed the intersection.” That may be the kind of directions people will be providing in Washington, DC in the future if the city government keeps renaming roads after political slogans.]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/june/05/black-lives-matter-plaza-turning-a-political-slogan-into-a-street-name-in-washington-dc/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/june/05/black-lives-matter-plaza-turning-a-political-slogan-into-a-street-name-in-washington-dc/Fri, 05 Jun 2020 22:59:36 GMT The Absurdity of Enforcing Coronavirus Mandate Business Restrictions While Mass Protests, Rioting, and Looting AboundAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/june/05/the-absurdity-of-enforcing-coronavirus-mandate-business-restrictions-while-mass-protests-rioting-and-looting-abound/

Across America over the last week large groups of people have been protesting. Many people have also crowded together rioting and looting, often with no police taking any action to stop the out-in-the-open assaults and theft. Meanwhile, in many of the same cities and towns across America businesses remain totally shut down or are legally allowed to operate only under new restrictions that make profitable functioning difficult to impossible, all in the name of countering coronavirus.

That is not fair. That is not just.

Sure, people have a right to protest. But, people also have a right to engage in commerce.

People do not have a right to physically attack individuals who are not endangering people or property. And people do hot have a right to steal. Yet, in many places across America, cops are just letting such happen.

In contrast, people do have the right to strike a bargain for mutual benefit — exchange money for goods or services at a business, for example. Yet, they fear to do so because of government mandates prohibiting such actions.

Governments mandating, in the name of countering coronavirus, that businesses shut down or operate under new restrictions has been an aberration since it started in March. Now, there is the additional blight that owners of businesses are continuing to suffer under these draconian mandates while other activities such as protests, rioting, and looting that could spread the coronavirus under the logic of the mandates are flourishing. Of course, businesses have also suffered directly from the thefts and physical destruction.

Take New York City for example. While New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is condoning people engaging in mass protests in favor of certain causes with which he agrees and while the looting of businesses and destroying of property has occurred with little effective counter-action from city police, the coronavirus crackdown on businesses continues strong.

Karol Markowics addresses the problem well in her June 2 New York Post editorial “If protesters can march, why can’t businesses open?” Early on in her editorial, Markowics describes the painful situation many New York City businesses find themselves in under the continuing government-mandated restraints on their operation. She writes:

New York City is still a full five days away from entering Phase 1. This will open up only some industries, like construction and manufacturing and retail on a pickup basis only.

The protests have exposed the absurdity of the continued lockdowns. It’s either a public-health emergency and crowds must be stopped or it’s not. It cannot be both.

On Sunday, as protests continued in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, a video circulated online of a city sheriff just a few avenues away giving tickets to open stores on 13th Avenue in Brooklyn.

None of this makes any sense anymore. The jig is up, the lockdown is over, our elected officials just need to catch up.

Exactly. Governments across America should ditch the phased reopenings and the accompanying new regulations, including percentage occupancy caps and new surveillance programs called “contract tracing.” Instead, just let people buy and sell as they choose. End the mask mandates too, along with the group size limits, stay-at-home orders, and the rest of the kit and kaboodle of draconian restrictions placed on businesses and individuals in the name of countering coronavirus.

Politicians should leave their dystopian dreams of a “new normal” behind and immediately rescind the entire coronavirus crackdown so Americans can choose to return to their “old normal.” As Markowicz writes, “the jig is up.”]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/june/05/the-absurdity-of-enforcing-coronavirus-mandate-business-restrictions-while-mass-protests-rioting-and-looting-abound/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/june/05/the-absurdity-of-enforcing-coronavirus-mandate-business-restrictions-while-mass-protests-rioting-and-looting-abound/Fri, 05 Jun 2020 13:54:19 GMT Protesters, Rioters, Looters, and Revolutionaries, Be Aware There Are Government Agents Among YouAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/may/30/protesters-rioters-looters-and-revolutionaries-be-aware-there-are-government-agents-among-you/

With protests, riots, looting, and revolutionary acts rising over the last few days across the country, here is a bit of information for participants in these activities to keep in mind: There are likely government agents among you. These government agents are undercover and taking part in the activities with you. Their role may be to take down names and inform on activities; their role may to act as provocateurs, seeking to lead you and others to do or say particular things; their role may be to make arrests.

This fact of life in America came to mind when I looked at a Friday Twitter post by journalist Luke Rudkowski. Rudkowski’s tweet includes a video clip in which a uniformed cop is among a group of people, many of whom seem to not be too happy with the cop. The cop is doling out some physical abuse, particularly on an individual he is trying to restrain, and receiving some physical abuse as well from several people in the crowd. It appears that the cop may be on the verge of being overpowered and seriously hurt. Indeed, it looks like a situation where he may pull out a gun to protect himself.

In the latter part of the video, one more person rushes into the area of conflict and seems to engage in a scuffle with the cop, drawing the cop out of the area and even chasing the cop off. At least that is how it seemed the first time I watched the video.

Something seemed off about how the two men interacted in the latter part of the video, so I watched a few more times.

Watching the video over and over, it looks more and more like the man who had seemed to come in to scuffle with the cop is actually pulling the cop out of the fray as a friend or coworker may do, while maybe putting on some ruse of conflict to ensure the extraction works. Indeed, at the end of the video clip, after a few viewings, it sure looks like neither man is chasing after the other. Instead, once clear of the danger that had confronted the cop, both men appear to jog off together.

It seems impossible to be certain just from looking at the video clip, but what appears to be happening here is an undercover cop, posing as a member of the protest, riot, or whatever came in to save the uniformed cop’s bacon or to prevent a further escalation of the physical conflict.

Undercover government agents are out there, and they are not out there just to protect the uniformed police. They are also there for purposes including surveilling and foiling the protesters, rioters, looters, or revolutionaries, as well as both provoking people to commit crimes and making arrests.

Starting Friday, people ten years old and older who are indoors just about anywhere in Virginia other than in private homes will be required by a new executive order of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam to “cover their mouth and nose with a face covering, as described and recommended by” the United Sates government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Further, the mandate even requires wearing such a mask when outside at a long list of places “if a distance of six feet from every other person cannot be maintained.”

Oh brother. Indeed, oh Big Brother.

Like many other draconian mandates imposed by the Virginia governor and other politicians across America, the new mask mandate is purportedly purposed to counter coronavirus. That, of course, is a stretch given that there is no clear evidence masks protect people from coronavirus and that the mandate is being imposed when even the CDC is admitting the coronavirus threat is much, much less than many coronavirus crackdown proponents have been claiming over the last few months.

Northam lists in his executive order a few exceptions. For example, people can remove their masks while eating and drinking and while exercising.

People opposed to being required to wear a mask should take particular notice of this exception listed in the executive order:

Nothing in this Order shall require the use of a face covering by any person for whom doing so would be contrary to his or her health or safety because of a medical condition.

In regard to this exception, the executive order further states:

Any person who declines to wear a face covering because of a medical condition shall not be required to produce or carry medical documentation verifying the stated condition nor shall the person be required to identify the precise underlying medical condition.

I don’t know about you, but following draconian government mandates makes me sick.

Unfortunately, many businesses and their managers can be expected to enforce this new mandate vigorously, choosing to kick out people who refuse to wear a mask and even to disregard the executive order’s listed exceptions. Some of these businesses or their managers will do so because they fear government enforcement actions that may come if there are reports of unmasked individuals at the businesses. Others will enthusiastically join in a zealous effort, often also supported by a substantial number of their customers, to stomp out any departure from the new dress code of subservience.]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/may/27/virginia-s-statewide-mask-mandate/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/may/27/virginia-s-statewide-mask-mandate/Wed, 27 May 2020 23:29:59 GMT Gunshot Victims Count As Coronavirus Deaths in Washington StateRobert Wenzelhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/may/26/gunshot-victims-count-as-coronavirus-deaths-in-washington-state/

Here is more on the absurd and very curious order from the CDC to count any death of a COVID-19 infected person who has died as a "COVID-19 death."

Democrat Washington governor Jay Inslee, whose daughter-in-law works for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, oversees a state government that has now admitted to counting gunshot deaths as Coronavirus deaths in official numbers pertaining to the virus, which sparked a draconian lockdown in Inslee’s state, reports the National File.

Freedom Foundation reports: “Today, officials at the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that, as the Freedom Foundation reported on Monday, the state is counting in its COVID-19 death total the deaths of persons who tested positive for the virus but died from other causes. In remarks made during a telephonic press briefing, DOH officials even acknowledged knowingly including multiple deaths caused by gunshot wounds in the state’s COVID-19 fatality count.

Future of Freedom Foundation President Jacob Hornberger failed to win the Libertarian Party presidential nomination in Saturday evening online voting by party delegates. Hornberger, who has spoken at Ron Paul Institute (RPI) events and whose articles have been regularly posted at the RPI website, came in second place in the fourth and final ballot cast by delegates.

Jo Jorgensen won the nomination.

Delegates will vote online Sunday to select the party’s nominee for vice president.

Though you will not be seeing Hornberger on the campaign trail as a presidential candidate this summer and fall, you can continue to read his insightful articles concerning liberty, current events, and history at the RPI website.

“Once police stop you, a ticket is the least of your worries,” writes Jacob Sullum early on in his new Reason article “10 Ways a Roadside Police Stop Can Go Wrong.”

After starting off with a short examination of the discretion police have to pull over vehicles on the road for a plethora of reasons, Sullum addresses, in turn, ten of the ways beyond a ticket that a traffic stop can be harmful. He starts with number one, having one’s driver license taken away, and proceeds on to number ten, being killed.

Read Sullum’s very informative and disturbing article here to learn how much the deck is stacked against drivers and their passengers when their vehicles are stopped by cops on the road.

]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/may/22/danger-cops-are-on-the-road/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/may/22/danger-cops-are-on-the-road/Fri, 22 May 2020 14:25:32 GMT Test Positive for Coronavirus, End Up in a Police DatabaseAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/may/20/test-positive-for-coronavirus-end-up-in-a-police-database/

So you are curious whether you have coronavirus? You could take a coronavirus test to find out. Well, not really find out, since the test results are not reliable. Nonetheless, you can take a test to obtain at least a Magic 8 Ball level answer of if you are or are not infected with coronavirus.

Here is some information likely unknown to many people when they are tested: The names and addresses of people who test positive are often handed over to police departments that can input or tag those names and addresses in police databases.

Kimberlee Kruesi provides the details in a Tuesday Associated Press article. She starts off her article with the following revelation:

More than 11 million people have been tested in the U.S. for COVID-19, all with the assurance that their private medical information would remain protected and undisclosed.

Yet, public officials in at least two-thirds of states are sharing the addresses of people who tested positive with first responders — from police officers to firefighters to EMTs. An Associated Press review found that at least 10 of those states also share the patients’ names.

Kinda makes those coronavirus tests that many government officials and people in the media have been promoting seem less warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it?

Politicians across America who have been trampling on liberty via a multitude of mandates imposed in the name of countering coronavirus should beware. There may be a court of jurisdiction stomping out your tyrannical efforts soon.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court led the way to restoring respect for limits on government power on Wednesday when it voided much of Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’ restrictions on commerce, travel, and other exercises of liberty purportedly imposed to protect people’s health.

”The Wisconsin Supreme Court has struck down Gov. Tony Evers' order shutting down daily life to limit the spread of coronavirus — marking the first time a statewide order of its kind has been knocked down by a court of last resort,” begins a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article by Molly Beck and Patrick Marley regarding the court’s decision.

Let’s hope that across America judicial and legislative actions are taken to make it clear that governments — state, local, or national — cannot again use a “public health threat” or other “emergency” to impose draconian mandates.]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/may/14/wisconsin-supreme-court-to-the-rescue-justices-void-much-of-governor-s-coronavirus-crackdown/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/may/14/wisconsin-supreme-court-to-the-rescue-justices-void-much-of-governor-s-coronavirus-crackdown/Thu, 14 May 2020 20:46:33 GMT Black Lives Matter Plaza: Turning a Political Slogan into a Street Name in Washington, DCAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/june/05/black-lives-matter-plaza-turning-a-political-slogan-into-a-street-name-in-washington-dc/

On Friday, Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that a portion of 16th Street near the White House had been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza. That day a street sign bearing the new name was installed. “Black lives matter” was painted in huge yellow letters on the road surface on Friday as well.

“Let's meet this evening at the corner of Black Lives Matter Plaza and Flatten the Curve Avenue. If you reach No Justice No Peace Road, My Body My Choice Drive, Sensible Gun Control Boulevard, or Me Too Street, turn around, you missed the intersection.” That may be the kind of directions people will be providing in Washington, DC in the future if the city government keeps renaming roads after political slogans.]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/june/05/black-lives-matter-plaza-turning-a-political-slogan-into-a-street-name-in-washington-dc/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/june/05/black-lives-matter-plaza-turning-a-political-slogan-into-a-street-name-in-washington-dc/Fri, 05 Jun 2020 22:59:36 GMT The Absurdity of Enforcing Coronavirus Mandate Business Restrictions While Mass Protests, Rioting, and Looting AboundAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/june/05/the-absurdity-of-enforcing-coronavirus-mandate-business-restrictions-while-mass-protests-rioting-and-looting-abound/

Across America over the last week large groups of people have been protesting. Many people have also crowded together rioting and looting, often with no police taking any action to stop the out-in-the-open assaults and theft. Meanwhile, in many of the same cities and towns across America businesses remain totally shut down or are legally allowed to operate only under new restrictions that make profitable functioning difficult to impossible, all in the name of countering coronavirus.

That is not fair. That is not just.

Sure, people have a right to protest. But, people also have a right to engage in commerce.

People do not have a right to physically attack individuals who are not endangering people or property. And people do hot have a right to steal. Yet, in many places across America, cops are just letting such happen.

In contrast, people do have the right to strike a bargain for mutual benefit — exchange money for goods or services at a business, for example. Yet, they fear to do so because of government mandates prohibiting such actions.

Governments mandating, in the name of countering coronavirus, that businesses shut down or operate under new restrictions has been an aberration since it started in March. Now, there is the additional blight that owners of businesses are continuing to suffer under these draconian mandates while other activities such as protests, rioting, and looting that could spread the coronavirus under the logic of the mandates are flourishing. Of course, businesses have also suffered directly from the thefts and physical destruction.

Take New York City for example. While New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is condoning people engaging in mass protests in favor of certain causes with which he agrees and while the looting of businesses and destroying of property has occurred with little effective counter-action from city police, the coronavirus crackdown on businesses continues strong.

Karol Markowics addresses the problem well in her June 2 New York Post editorial “If protesters can march, why can’t businesses open?” Early on in her editorial, Markowics describes the painful situation many New York City businesses find themselves in under the continuing government-mandated restraints on their operation. She writes:

New York City is still a full five days away from entering Phase 1. This will open up only some industries, like construction and manufacturing and retail on a pickup basis only.

The protests have exposed the absurdity of the continued lockdowns. It’s either a public-health emergency and crowds must be stopped or it’s not. It cannot be both.

On Sunday, as protests continued in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, a video circulated online of a city sheriff just a few avenues away giving tickets to open stores on 13th Avenue in Brooklyn.

None of this makes any sense anymore. The jig is up, the lockdown is over, our elected officials just need to catch up.

Exactly. Governments across America should ditch the phased reopenings and the accompanying new regulations, including percentage occupancy caps and new surveillance programs called “contract tracing.” Instead, just let people buy and sell as they choose. End the mask mandates too, along with the group size limits, stay-at-home orders, and the rest of the kit and kaboodle of draconian restrictions placed on businesses and individuals in the name of countering coronavirus.

Politicians should leave their dystopian dreams of a “new normal” behind and immediately rescind the entire coronavirus crackdown so Americans can choose to return to their “old normal.” As Markowicz writes, “the jig is up.”]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/june/05/the-absurdity-of-enforcing-coronavirus-mandate-business-restrictions-while-mass-protests-rioting-and-looting-abound/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/june/05/the-absurdity-of-enforcing-coronavirus-mandate-business-restrictions-while-mass-protests-rioting-and-looting-abound/Fri, 05 Jun 2020 13:54:19 GMT Protesters, Rioters, Looters, and Revolutionaries, Be Aware There Are Government Agents Among YouAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/may/30/protesters-rioters-looters-and-revolutionaries-be-aware-there-are-government-agents-among-you/

With protests, riots, looting, and revolutionary acts rising over the last few days across the country, here is a bit of information for participants in these activities to keep in mind: There are likely government agents among you. These government agents are undercover and taking part in the activities with you. Their role may be to take down names and inform on activities; their role may to act as provocateurs, seeking to lead you and others to do or say particular things; their role may be to make arrests.

This fact of life in America came to mind when I looked at a Friday Twitter post by journalist Luke Rudkowski. Rudkowski’s tweet includes a video clip in which a uniformed cop is among a group of people, many of whom seem to not be too happy with the cop. The cop is doling out some physical abuse, particularly on an individual he is trying to restrain, and receiving some physical abuse as well from several people in the crowd. It appears that the cop may be on the verge of being overpowered and seriously hurt. Indeed, it looks like a situation where he may pull out a gun to protect himself.

In the latter part of the video, one more person rushes into the area of conflict and seems to engage in a scuffle with the cop, drawing the cop out of the area and even chasing the cop off. At least that is how it seemed the first time I watched the video.

Something seemed off about how the two men interacted in the latter part of the video, so I watched a few more times.

Watching the video over and over, it looks more and more like the man who had seemed to come in to scuffle with the cop is actually pulling the cop out of the fray as a friend or coworker may do, while maybe putting on some ruse of conflict to ensure the extraction works. Indeed, at the end of the video clip, after a few viewings, it sure looks like neither man is chasing after the other. Instead, once clear of the danger that had confronted the cop, both men appear to jog off together.

It seems impossible to be certain just from looking at the video clip, but what appears to be happening here is an undercover cop, posing as a member of the protest, riot, or whatever came in to save the uniformed cop’s bacon or to prevent a further escalation of the physical conflict.

Undercover government agents are out there, and they are not out there just to protect the uniformed police. They are also there for purposes including surveilling and foiling the protesters, rioters, looters, or revolutionaries, as well as both provoking people to commit crimes and making arrests.

Starting Friday, people ten years old and older who are indoors just about anywhere in Virginia other than in private homes will be required by a new executive order of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam to “cover their mouth and nose with a face covering, as described and recommended by” the United Sates government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Further, the mandate even requires wearing such a mask when outside at a long list of places “if a distance of six feet from every other person cannot be maintained.”

Oh brother. Indeed, oh Big Brother.

Like many other draconian mandates imposed by the Virginia governor and other politicians across America, the new mask mandate is purportedly purposed to counter coronavirus. That, of course, is a stretch given that there is no clear evidence masks protect people from coronavirus and that the mandate is being imposed when even the CDC is admitting the coronavirus threat is much, much less than many coronavirus crackdown proponents have been claiming over the last few months.

Northam lists in his executive order a few exceptions. For example, people can remove their masks while eating and drinking and while exercising.

People opposed to being required to wear a mask should take particular notice of this exception listed in the executive order:

Nothing in this Order shall require the use of a face covering by any person for whom doing so would be contrary to his or her health or safety because of a medical condition.

In regard to this exception, the executive order further states:

Any person who declines to wear a face covering because of a medical condition shall not be required to produce or carry medical documentation verifying the stated condition nor shall the person be required to identify the precise underlying medical condition.

I don’t know about you, but following draconian government mandates makes me sick.

Unfortunately, many businesses and their managers can be expected to enforce this new mandate vigorously, choosing to kick out people who refuse to wear a mask and even to disregard the executive order’s listed exceptions. Some of these businesses or their managers will do so because they fear government enforcement actions that may come if there are reports of unmasked individuals at the businesses. Others will enthusiastically join in a zealous effort, often also supported by a substantial number of their customers, to stomp out any departure from the new dress code of subservience.]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/may/27/virginia-s-statewide-mask-mandate/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/may/27/virginia-s-statewide-mask-mandate/Wed, 27 May 2020 23:29:59 GMT Gunshot Victims Count As Coronavirus Deaths in Washington StateRobert Wenzelhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/may/26/gunshot-victims-count-as-coronavirus-deaths-in-washington-state/

Here is more on the absurd and very curious order from the CDC to count any death of a COVID-19 infected person who has died as a "COVID-19 death."

Democrat Washington governor Jay Inslee, whose daughter-in-law works for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, oversees a state government that has now admitted to counting gunshot deaths as Coronavirus deaths in official numbers pertaining to the virus, which sparked a draconian lockdown in Inslee’s state, reports the National File.

Freedom Foundation reports: “Today, officials at the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that, as the Freedom Foundation reported on Monday, the state is counting in its COVID-19 death total the deaths of persons who tested positive for the virus but died from other causes. In remarks made during a telephonic press briefing, DOH officials even acknowledged knowingly including multiple deaths caused by gunshot wounds in the state’s COVID-19 fatality count.

Future of Freedom Foundation President Jacob Hornberger failed to win the Libertarian Party presidential nomination in Saturday evening online voting by party delegates. Hornberger, who has spoken at Ron Paul Institute (RPI) events and whose articles have been regularly posted at the RPI website, came in second place in the fourth and final ballot cast by delegates.

Jo Jorgensen won the nomination.

Delegates will vote online Sunday to select the party’s nominee for vice president.

Though you will not be seeing Hornberger on the campaign trail as a presidential candidate this summer and fall, you can continue to read his insightful articles concerning liberty, current events, and history at the RPI website.

“Once police stop you, a ticket is the least of your worries,” writes Jacob Sullum early on in his new Reason article “10 Ways a Roadside Police Stop Can Go Wrong.”

After starting off with a short examination of the discretion police have to pull over vehicles on the road for a plethora of reasons, Sullum addresses, in turn, ten of the ways beyond a ticket that a traffic stop can be harmful. He starts with number one, having one’s driver license taken away, and proceeds on to number ten, being killed.

Read Sullum’s very informative and disturbing article here to learn how much the deck is stacked against drivers and their passengers when their vehicles are stopped by cops on the road.

]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/may/22/danger-cops-are-on-the-road/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/may/22/danger-cops-are-on-the-road/Fri, 22 May 2020 14:25:32 GMT Test Positive for Coronavirus, End Up in a Police DatabaseAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/may/20/test-positive-for-coronavirus-end-up-in-a-police-database/

So you are curious whether you have coronavirus? You could take a coronavirus test to find out. Well, not really find out, since the test results are not reliable. Nonetheless, you can take a test to obtain at least a Magic 8 Ball level answer of if you are or are not infected with coronavirus.

Here is some information likely unknown to many people when they are tested: The names and addresses of people who test positive are often handed over to police departments that can input or tag those names and addresses in police databases.

Kimberlee Kruesi provides the details in a Tuesday Associated Press article. She starts off her article with the following revelation:

More than 11 million people have been tested in the U.S. for COVID-19, all with the assurance that their private medical information would remain protected and undisclosed.

Yet, public officials in at least two-thirds of states are sharing the addresses of people who tested positive with first responders — from police officers to firefighters to EMTs. An Associated Press review found that at least 10 of those states also share the patients’ names.

Kinda makes those coronavirus tests that many government officials and people in the media have been promoting seem less warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it?

Politicians across America who have been trampling on liberty via a multitude of mandates imposed in the name of countering coronavirus should beware. There may be a court of jurisdiction stomping out your tyrannical efforts soon.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court led the way to restoring respect for limits on government power on Wednesday when it voided much of Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’ restrictions on commerce, travel, and other exercises of liberty purportedly imposed to protect people’s health.

”The Wisconsin Supreme Court has struck down Gov. Tony Evers' order shutting down daily life to limit the spread of coronavirus — marking the first time a statewide order of its kind has been knocked down by a court of last resort,” begins a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article by Molly Beck and Patrick Marley regarding the court’s decision.

Let’s hope that across America judicial and legislative actions are taken to make it clear that governments — state, local, or national — cannot again use a “public health threat” or other “emergency” to impose draconian mandates.]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/may/14/wisconsin-supreme-court-to-the-rescue-justices-void-much-of-governor-s-coronavirus-crackdown/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/neocon-watch/2020/may/14/wisconsin-supreme-court-to-the-rescue-justices-void-much-of-governor-s-coronavirus-crackdown/Thu, 14 May 2020 20:46:33 GMT Black Lives Matter Plaza: Turning a Political Slogan into a Street Name in Washington, DCAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/june/05/black-lives-matter-plaza-turning-a-political-slogan-into-a-street-name-in-washington-dc/

On Friday, Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that a portion of 16th Street near the White House had been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza. That day a street sign bearing the new name was installed. “Black lives matter” was painted in huge yellow letters on the road surface on Friday as well.

“Let's meet this evening at the corner of Black Lives Matter Plaza and Flatten the Curve Avenue. If you reach No Justice No Peace Road, My Body My Choice Drive, Sensible Gun Control Boulevard, or Me Too Street, turn around, you missed the intersection.” That may be the kind of directions people will be providing in Washington, DC in the future if the city government keeps renaming roads after political slogans.]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/june/05/black-lives-matter-plaza-turning-a-political-slogan-into-a-street-name-in-washington-dc/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/june/05/black-lives-matter-plaza-turning-a-political-slogan-into-a-street-name-in-washington-dc/Fri, 05 Jun 2020 22:59:36 GMT The Absurdity of Enforcing Coronavirus Mandate Business Restrictions While Mass Protests, Rioting, and Looting AboundAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/june/05/the-absurdity-of-enforcing-coronavirus-mandate-business-restrictions-while-mass-protests-rioting-and-looting-abound/

Across America over the last week large groups of people have been protesting. Many people have also crowded together rioting and looting, often with no police taking any action to stop the out-in-the-open assaults and theft. Meanwhile, in many of the same cities and towns across America businesses remain totally shut down or are legally allowed to operate only under new restrictions that make profitable functioning difficult to impossible, all in the name of countering coronavirus.

That is not fair. That is not just.

Sure, people have a right to protest. But, people also have a right to engage in commerce.

People do not have a right to physically attack individuals who are not endangering people or property. And people do hot have a right to steal. Yet, in many places across America, cops are just letting such happen.

In contrast, people do have the right to strike a bargain for mutual benefit — exchange money for goods or services at a business, for example. Yet, they fear to do so because of government mandates prohibiting such actions.

Governments mandating, in the name of countering coronavirus, that businesses shut down or operate under new restrictions has been an aberration since it started in March. Now, there is the additional blight that owners of businesses are continuing to suffer under these draconian mandates while other activities such as protests, rioting, and looting that could spread the coronavirus under the logic of the mandates are flourishing. Of course, businesses have also suffered directly from the thefts and physical destruction.

Take New York City for example. While New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is condoning people engaging in mass protests in favor of certain causes with which he agrees and while the looting of businesses and destroying of property has occurred with little effective counter-action from city police, the coronavirus crackdown on businesses continues strong.

Karol Markowics addresses the problem well in her June 2 New York Post editorial “If protesters can march, why can’t businesses open?” Early on in her editorial, Markowics describes the painful situation many New York City businesses find themselves in under the continuing government-mandated restraints on their operation. She writes:

New York City is still a full five days away from entering Phase 1. This will open up only some industries, like construction and manufacturing and retail on a pickup basis only.

The protests have exposed the absurdity of the continued lockdowns. It’s either a public-health emergency and crowds must be stopped or it’s not. It cannot be both.

On Sunday, as protests continued in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, a video circulated online of a city sheriff just a few avenues away giving tickets to open stores on 13th Avenue in Brooklyn.

None of this makes any sense anymore. The jig is up, the lockdown is over, our elected officials just need to catch up.

Exactly. Governments across America should ditch the phased reopenings and the accompanying new regulations, including percentage occupancy caps and new surveillance programs called “contract tracing.” Instead, just let people buy and sell as they choose. End the mask mandates too, along with the group size limits, stay-at-home orders, and the rest of the kit and kaboodle of draconian restrictions placed on businesses and individuals in the name of countering coronavirus.

Politicians should leave their dystopian dreams of a “new normal” behind and immediately rescind the entire coronavirus crackdown so Americans can choose to return to their “old normal.” As Markowicz writes, “the jig is up.”]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/june/05/the-absurdity-of-enforcing-coronavirus-mandate-business-restrictions-while-mass-protests-rioting-and-looting-abound/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/june/05/the-absurdity-of-enforcing-coronavirus-mandate-business-restrictions-while-mass-protests-rioting-and-looting-abound/Fri, 05 Jun 2020 13:54:19 GMT Protesters, Rioters, Looters, and Revolutionaries, Be Aware There Are Government Agents Among YouAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/may/30/protesters-rioters-looters-and-revolutionaries-be-aware-there-are-government-agents-among-you/

With protests, riots, looting, and revolutionary acts rising over the last few days across the country, here is a bit of information for participants in these activities to keep in mind: There are likely government agents among you. These government agents are undercover and taking part in the activities with you. Their role may be to take down names and inform on activities; their role may to act as provocateurs, seeking to lead you and others to do or say particular things; their role may be to make arrests.

This fact of life in America came to mind when I looked at a Friday Twitter post by journalist Luke Rudkowski. Rudkowski’s tweet includes a video clip in which a uniformed cop is among a group of people, many of whom seem to not be too happy with the cop. The cop is doling out some physical abuse, particularly on an individual he is trying to restrain, and receiving some physical abuse as well from several people in the crowd. It appears that the cop may be on the verge of being overpowered and seriously hurt. Indeed, it looks like a situation where he may pull out a gun to protect himself.

In the latter part of the video, one more person rushes into the area of conflict and seems to engage in a scuffle with the cop, drawing the cop out of the area and even chasing the cop off. At least that is how it seemed the first time I watched the video.

Something seemed off about how the two men interacted in the latter part of the video, so I watched a few more times.

Watching the video over and over, it looks more and more like the man who had seemed to come in to scuffle with the cop is actually pulling the cop out of the fray as a friend or coworker may do, while maybe putting on some ruse of conflict to ensure the extraction works. Indeed, at the end of the video clip, after a few viewings, it sure looks like neither man is chasing after the other. Instead, once clear of the danger that had confronted the cop, both men appear to jog off together.

It seems impossible to be certain just from looking at the video clip, but what appears to be happening here is an undercover cop, posing as a member of the protest, riot, or whatever came in to save the uniformed cop’s bacon or to prevent a further escalation of the physical conflict.

Undercover government agents are out there, and they are not out there just to protect the uniformed police. They are also there for purposes including surveilling and foiling the protesters, rioters, looters, or revolutionaries, as well as both provoking people to commit crimes and making arrests.

Starting Friday, people ten years old and older who are indoors just about anywhere in Virginia other than in private homes will be required by a new executive order of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam to “cover their mouth and nose with a face covering, as described and recommended by” the United Sates government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Further, the mandate even requires wearing such a mask when outside at a long list of places “if a distance of six feet from every other person cannot be maintained.”

Oh brother. Indeed, oh Big Brother.

Like many other draconian mandates imposed by the Virginia governor and other politicians across America, the new mask mandate is purportedly purposed to counter coronavirus. That, of course, is a stretch given that there is no clear evidence masks protect people from coronavirus and that the mandate is being imposed when even the CDC is admitting the coronavirus threat is much, much less than many coronavirus crackdown proponents have been claiming over the last few months.

Northam lists in his executive order a few exceptions. For example, people can remove their masks while eating and drinking and while exercising.

People opposed to being required to wear a mask should take particular notice of this exception listed in the executive order:

Nothing in this Order shall require the use of a face covering by any person for whom doing so would be contrary to his or her health or safety because of a medical condition.

In regard to this exception, the executive order further states:

Any person who declines to wear a face covering because of a medical condition shall not be required to produce or carry medical documentation verifying the stated condition nor shall the person be required to identify the precise underlying medical condition.

I don’t know about you, but following draconian government mandates makes me sick.

Unfortunately, many businesses and their managers can be expected to enforce this new mandate vigorously, choosing to kick out people who refuse to wear a mask and even to disregard the executive order’s listed exceptions. Some of these businesses or their managers will do so because they fear government enforcement actions that may come if there are reports of unmasked individuals at the businesses. Others will enthusiastically join in a zealous effort, often also supported by a substantial number of their customers, to stomp out any departure from the new dress code of subservience.]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/may/27/virginia-s-statewide-mask-mandate/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/may/27/virginia-s-statewide-mask-mandate/Wed, 27 May 2020 23:29:59 GMT Gunshot Victims Count As Coronavirus Deaths in Washington StateRobert Wenzelhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/may/26/gunshot-victims-count-as-coronavirus-deaths-in-washington-state/

Here is more on the absurd and very curious order from the CDC to count any death of a COVID-19 infected person who has died as a "COVID-19 death."

Democrat Washington governor Jay Inslee, whose daughter-in-law works for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, oversees a state government that has now admitted to counting gunshot deaths as Coronavirus deaths in official numbers pertaining to the virus, which sparked a draconian lockdown in Inslee’s state, reports the National File.

Freedom Foundation reports: “Today, officials at the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) confirmed that, as the Freedom Foundation reported on Monday, the state is counting in its COVID-19 death total the deaths of persons who tested positive for the virus but died from other causes. In remarks made during a telephonic press briefing, DOH officials even acknowledged knowingly including multiple deaths caused by gunshot wounds in the state’s COVID-19 fatality count.

Future of Freedom Foundation President Jacob Hornberger failed to win the Libertarian Party presidential nomination in Saturday evening online voting by party delegates. Hornberger, who has spoken at Ron Paul Institute (RPI) events and whose articles have been regularly posted at the RPI website, came in second place in the fourth and final ballot cast by delegates.

Jo Jorgensen won the nomination.

Delegates will vote online Sunday to select the party’s nominee for vice president.

Though you will not be seeing Hornberger on the campaign trail as a presidential candidate this summer and fall, you can continue to read his insightful articles concerning liberty, current events, and history at the RPI website.

“Once police stop you, a ticket is the least of your worries,” writes Jacob Sullum early on in his new Reason article “10 Ways a Roadside Police Stop Can Go Wrong.”

After starting off with a short examination of the discretion police have to pull over vehicles on the road for a plethora of reasons, Sullum addresses, in turn, ten of the ways beyond a ticket that a traffic stop can be harmful. He starts with number one, having one’s driver license taken away, and proceeds on to number ten, being killed.

Read Sullum’s very informative and disturbing article here to learn how much the deck is stacked against drivers and their passengers when their vehicles are stopped by cops on the road.

]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/may/22/danger-cops-are-on-the-road/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/may/22/danger-cops-are-on-the-road/Fri, 22 May 2020 14:25:32 GMT Test Positive for Coronavirus, End Up in a Police DatabaseAdam Dickhttp://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/may/20/test-positive-for-coronavirus-end-up-in-a-police-database/

So you are curious whether you have coronavirus? You could take a coronavirus test to find out. Well, not really find out, since the test results are not reliable. Nonetheless, you can take a test to obtain at least a Magic 8 Ball level answer of if you are or are not infected with coronavirus.

Here is some information likely unknown to many people when they are tested: The names and addresses of people who test positive are often handed over to police departments that can input or tag those names and addresses in police databases.

Kimberlee Kruesi provides the details in a Tuesday Associated Press article. She starts off her article with the following revelation:

More than 11 million people have been tested in the U.S. for COVID-19, all with the assurance that their private medical information would remain protected and undisclosed.

Yet, public officials in at least two-thirds of states are sharing the addresses of people who tested positive with first responders — from police officers to firefighters to EMTs. An Associated Press review found that at least 10 of those states also share the patients’ names.

Kinda makes those coronavirus tests that many government officials and people in the media have been promoting seem less warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it?

Politicians across America who have been trampling on liberty via a multitude of mandates imposed in the name of countering coronavirus should beware. There may be a court of jurisdiction stomping out your tyrannical efforts soon.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court led the way to restoring respect for limits on government power on Wednesday when it voided much of Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’ restrictions on commerce, travel, and other exercises of liberty purportedly imposed to protect people’s health.

”The Wisconsin Supreme Court has struck down Gov. Tony Evers' order shutting down daily life to limit the spread of coronavirus — marking the first time a statewide order of its kind has been knocked down by a court of last resort,” begins a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article by Molly Beck and Patrick Marley regarding the court’s decision.

Let’s hope that across America judicial and legislative actions are taken to make it clear that governments — state, local, or national — cannot again use a “public health threat” or other “emergency” to impose draconian mandates.]]>http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/may/14/wisconsin-supreme-court-to-the-rescue-justices-void-much-of-governor-s-coronavirus-crackdown/
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2020/may/14/wisconsin-supreme-court-to-the-rescue-justices-void-much-of-governor-s-coronavirus-crackdown/Thu, 14 May 2020 20:46:33 GMT